1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a child-resistant cap and container and, more particularly, to a cap having a child resistant closure on one side and a non-child resistant closure on another side, with both closures being capable of engaging a container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous child-resistant mechanisms for preventing access to containers storing dangerous substances such as medicine, household cleaners, poisons or the like are known. Most, however, are complicated in design which drives up the cost of manufacturing the caps and containers. Also, typical child-resistant containers are often difficult to open as they require a user to exert an appreciable amount of force while simultaneously engaging in a sequence of complex manipulative movements to release the cap closure mechanism. Such exertion, even for small containers (such as pill bottles) require two-handed manipulation of the closure and cap by the user. For these reasons, many child-resistant mechanisms are unsuitable for physically feeble persons such as the elderly and the sick.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,989,152 and 4,149,646 to Julian disclose a child-resistant cap having a tab provided in the bottom of the skirt of the cap, and a container having an abutment disposed at the neck of the container for locking engagement with the tab. A user is required to squeeze or flex the entire skirt while twisting the cap off so as to deflect the tab inward and around the abutment at the container neck. Such squeezing action would require an appreciable amount of force which may not be available to a physically feeble user.
Another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,742 to Sandhaus discloses a cap having a tab that is frictionally receivable in a recess defined in the neck of the container. To remove the cap, the user is required to push out the hinged tab by, for example, depressing the top of the cap. To reinstall the cap over the container, the user must thread the cap onto the container neck and realign the tab with the recess in the neck.
In still another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,014 to House et al. discloses a child-resistant closure having a ratchet type mechanism. The cap includes a tab notched in the depending skirt of the cap. The tab is movable in the radially outward direction and has a pawl extending from a bottom surface of the tab. A plurality of recesses are formed at the neck of the container for receiving the pawl. Thus, as a user threads the cap onto the container neck, the pawl is brought into ratchet engagement with the recesses in the neck. To open the container, a user is required to pivot the tab and the pawl radially outwardly so as to remove the pawl from the recess received therein. This ratchet type mechanism is complex in design and expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, this design does not provide the requisite positive locking unless the user screws the cap on with adequate force so that the pawl is sufficiently received in one of recesses.
Other child-resistant closures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,077 Seidler; U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,711 Miceli et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,762 Thomas; U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,933 Conti et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,376 Berghahn; U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,756 Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,797 Morris; U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,013 Miller et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,975 Wittemer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,281 Fillmore; U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,161 Stroud; U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,281 Herr; U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,281 Rapchak et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,013 Miller et al. While some of these patents disclose reversible caps, none teaches the use of a safety cap having a single tab for one-hand manipulation, or a reversible snap-cap having a child safety closure and a non-child safety closure incorporating the structure of the present invention.
The present invention is directed to a reversible cap for engaging a container. The container has a body and a neck defining a mouth, with a flange formed at the mouth of the container. The reversible cap has a child resistant closure formed on a first side, and a non-child resistant closure formed on a second side, which closures are segregated from each other by a dividing wall positioned between the child resistant and non-child resistant closures. An outer skirt bounds the dividing wall and includes a fixed tang mounted proximate an edge of the outer skirt on the first side of the cap. The fixed tang extends radially inward toward the center of the cap. A portion of the outer skirt defines a tab having a first end and a second end. The tab is pivotally connected to the outer skirt to provide for outward radial movement of the first end relative to the outer skirt upon application of a pushing force to the second end of the tab. The tab includes moveable tangs mounted proximate the first end of the tab which extend radially inward toward the center of the cap. The fixed and moveable tangs are releasably engageable with the flange when the child resistant closure is positioned over the mouth and forced against the flange.
In a preferred embodiment, an inner skirt is attached to the dividing wall and disposed on the second side of the cap radially displaced from the outer skirt to form a receiving area between the outer skirt and the inner skirt. The receiving area forms a friction fit with the flange when the non-child resistant closure is positioned over the mouth and forced against the flange.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.